Monday, June 29, 2009

LinkedIn Live Las Vegas Networking Event

LinkedIn Live Las Vegas Networking Event
Thursday, July 23, 2009
5:30pm-8:30pm
The Orleans
4500 W. Tropicana Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89103

http://events.linkedin.com/LinkedIn-Live-Las-Vegas-Networking-Event/pub/89280

Come and join us for Las Vegas LinkedIn Live networking event. Our goal is to connect as many people as possible and show them the power of LinkedIn. Networking, LinkedIn tips, raffle prizes, and much more! This is a great way for you to network and build relationships with other Las Vegas LinkedIn users. We are expecting 200-300 attendees so this is an event you don't want to miss!

Featuring FREE professional head shots for your social media profiles. We will also have tips on how to use social media to grow your network and market yourself or your business.

There will be a cash bar and appetizers available.

Cost: $10 if you pre-register, $15 at the door.

We are always looking for sponsors. It's a great opportunity for your business. For details contact: Chris Kokalis ckokalis@ckmemarketinggroup.com or Demont Daniel ddaniel@pridestaff.com

Presented by Linked Las Vegas, PrideStaff, and the CKME Group.

For more details and to pre-register, go to http://www.lasvegassocialmedia.com






Pre-register



Tuesday, June 23, 2009

American Staffing 2009: Looking for Growth

After one of the most difficult years for the U.S.—and the world—since World War II, the global economy is on pace to shrink by 1% to 2% in 2009, according to the World Bank. Everyone is looking for signs of growth. The staffing industry is a good place to start.

Hypercyclical, the staffing industry has taken quite a beating in this recession. According to a preliminary White House estimate, temporary help services accounted for 21% of all U.S. job losses in 2008. While temporary and contract employment appears to have stabilized in 2009, jobs losses in search and placement firms accelerated earlier this year. But at this point in the economic cycle, the staffing industry can tell a lot about the future.

ASA analyzed quarterly employment and sales data that the association has been collecting since 1992 to ascertain the level of gross domestic product growth required for the staffing industry to grow. Models show that GDP growth of 1.2% is required to increase temporary and contract employment, and growth of 0.8% is required to increase sales. Generally, then, economic growth of about 1% is necessary for staffing industry growth.

In June, 54 economists regularly surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predicted that the recession would end sometime in the third quarter of 2009, with GDP growing at an annual rate of 0.6% in that period—not enough to trigger staffing industry growth. But if the economists are right in their predictions that GDP will grow at a rate of 1.9% in the fourth quarter, then staffing industry employment and sales should begin to show modest increases before the end of the year.

Then, instead of just looking for signs of growth, staffing industry executives can start looking for double-digit growth—the kind that has occurred after the prior three recessions. It might take a couple of years, but with history as a guide, it would not be too soon to start to plan accordingly.

Temporary and contract staffing has historically grown faster than the economy and nonfarm employment—even taking recessions into account. Staffing industry growth, over the long term, is expected to significantly outpace overall economic growth. That expectation is not likely to be derailed by the current recession, particularly given that the industry has historically enjoyed double-digit growth rates when the economy is emerging from a recession.

Read more about recent trends in the staffing industry, as well as the industry's prospects for this year and beyond, in American Staffing 2009, the ASA annual economic analysis. The report includes 18 charts that illustrate the industry's sales and employment growth, as well as the ways it benefits employees, staffing clients, and the economy. The report is available online at americanstaffing.net.

American Staffing 2009 is the cover story of a special issue of Staffing Success magazine, in the mail to ASA members this week. This special issue is also being mailed to several hundred policy makers, journalists, and industry analysts.

ASA Research: Staffing Jobs to Signal Recession End

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from a news release being sent today to business and labor reporters in the top 100 markets across the nation.

A sustained upturn in staffing industry employment would signal the end of the current recession and suggest that overall nonfarm employment would begin to grow about three months later, according to research released today by the American Staffing Association.

Staffing industry employment has long been considered a popular indicator of current economic conditions and a precursor of overall employment trends. Recent ASA research confirmed this conventional wisdom, but added important nuance.

Staffing industry employment is a strong coincident economic indicator when the economy is emerging from a recession.
Staffing industry employment is a leading indicator for nonfarm employment—by about three months when the economy is emerging from a recession.
"This is the first time that an upswing in staffing jobs has been so closely linked with economic recovery," says ASA vice president Steve Berchem, CSP. A paper describing the research is available on the ASA Web site, americanstaffing.net.

The ASA Staffing Index provides the only near-real time measure of weekly changes in staffing jobs. The index has been improved so that, beginning June 23, there will be only a nine-day lag between the close of a payroll week and the reporting of the index results.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Staffing For Recovery

Cost of Turnover

The following is a comprehensive checklist of items to include when calculating the cost of turnover in any organization. To determine the costs, have the hourly and weekly cost of fully loaded payroll costs (i.e. salary plus benefits) of the vacant position, the management staff, the recruitment staff and others as outlined below.

It should be noted that the costs of time and lost productivity are no less important or real than the costs associated with paying cash to vendors for services such as advertising or temporary staff. These are all very real costs to the employer.

These calculations will easily reach 150% of the employees' annual compensation figure. The cost will be significantly higher (200% to 250% of annual compensation) for managerial and sales positions.

To put this into perspective, let's assume the average salary of employees in a given company is $50,000 per year. Taking the cost of turnover at 150% of salary, the cost of turnover is then $75,000 per employee who leaves the company. For the mid-sized company of 1,000 employees that has a 10% annual rate of turnover, the annual cost of turnover is $7.5 million!

Do you know any CEO who would not want to add $7.5 million to their revenue? And, by the way, most of that figure would be carried over to the profit line as well. What about the company with 10,000 employees? The cost of turnover equals $75 million!

Here is the list:


Costs Due to a Person Leaving:
1. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who fills in while the position is vacant. This can be either the cost of a temporary or the cost of existing employees performing the vacant job as well as their own. Include the cost at overtime rates.
2. Calculate the cost of lost productivity at a minimum of 50% of the person's compensation and benefits cost for each week the position is vacant, even if there are people performing the work. Calculate the lost productivity at 100% if the position is completely vacant for any period of time.
3. Calculate the cost of conducting an exit interview to include the time of the person conducting the interview, the time of the person leaving, the administrative costs of stopping payroll, benefit deductions, benefit enrollments, COBRA notification and administration, and the cost of the various forms needed to process a resigning employee.
4. Calculate the cost of the manager who has to understand what work remains, and how to cover that work until a replacement is found. Calculate the cost of the manager who conducts their own version of the employee exit interview.
5. Calculate the cost of training your company has invested in this employee who is leaving. Include internal training, external programs and external academic education. Include licenses or certifications the company has helped the employee obtain to do their job effectively.
6. Calculate the impact on departmental productivity because the person is leaving. Who will pick up the work, whose work will suffer, what departmental deadlines will not be met or delivered late. Calculate the cost of department staff discussing their reactions to the vacancy.
7. Calculate the cost of severance and benefits continuation provided to employees who are leaving that are eligible for coverage under these programs.
8. Calculate the cost of lost knowledge, skills and contacts that the person who is leaving is taking with them out of your door. Use a formula of 50% of the person's annual salary for one year of service, increasing each year of service by 10%.
9. Calculate the cost impact of unemployment insurance premiums as well as the time spent to prepare for an unemployment hearing, or the cost paid to a third party to handle the unemployment claim process on your behalf.
10. Calculate the cost of losing customers that the employee is going to take with them or the amount it will cost you to retain the customers of the salesperson or customer service representative who leaves.
11. Subtract the cost of the person who is leaving for the amount of time the position is vacant.

Recruitment Costs:
1. The cost of advertisements (from a $200.00 classified to a $5,000.00 or more display advertisement); agency costs at 20 - 30% of annual compensation; employee referral costs of $500.00 - $2,000.00 or more; internet posting costs of $300.00 - $500.00 per listing.
2. The cost of the internal recruiter's time to understand the position requirements, develop and implement a sourcing strategy, review candidates' backgrounds, prepare for interviews, conduct interviews, prepare candidate assessments, conduct reference checks, make the employment offer and notify unsuccessful candidates. This can range from a minimum of 30 hours to over 100 hours per position.
3. Calculate the cost of a recruiter's assistant who will spend 20 or more hours in basic-level review of resumes, developing candidate interview schedules and making any travel arrangements for out-of-town candidates.
4. The cost of the hiring department (immediate supervisor, next level manager, peers and other people on the selection list) time to review and explain position requirements, review candidate's background, conduct interviews, discuss their assessments and select a finalist. Also include their time to do their own sourcing of candidates from networks, contacts and other referrals. This can take upwards of 100 hours of total time.
5. Calculate the administrative cost of handling, processing and responding to the average number of resumes considered for each opening at $1.50 per resume.
6. Calculate the number of hours spent by the internal recruiter interviewing internal candidates along with the cost of those internal candidates to be away from their jobs while interviewing.
7. Calculate the cost of drug screens, educational and criminal background checks and other reference checks, especially if these tasks are outsourced. Don't forget to calculate the number of times these are done per open position, as some companies conduct this process for the final 2 or 3 candidates.
8. Calculate the cost of the various candidate pre-employment tests to help assess a candidates' skills, abilities, aptitude, attitude, values and behaviors.

Training Costs:
1. Calculate the cost of orientation in terms of the new person's salary and the cost of the person who conducts the orientation. Also include the cost of orientation materials.
2. Calculate the cost of departmental training as the actual development and delivery cost plus the cost of the salary of the new employee. Note that the cost will be significantly higher for some positions such as sales representatives and call center agents who require 4 - 6 weeks or more of classroom training.
3. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who conduct the training.
4. Calculate the cost of various training materials needed including company or product manuals, computer or other technology equipment used in the delivery of training.
5. Calculate the cost of supervisory time spent in assigning, explaining and reviewing work assignments and output. This represents lost productivity of the supervisor. Consider the amount of time spent at 7 hours per week for at least 8 weeks.





Lost Productivity Costs:

As the new employee is learning the new job, the company policies and practices, etc., they are not fully productive. Use the following guidelines to calculate the cost of this lost productivity:
1. Upon completion of whatever training is provided, the employee is contributing at a 25% productivity level for the first 2 - 4 weeks. The cost therefore is 75% of the new employee's full salary during that time period.
2. During weeks 5 - 12, the employee is contributing at a 50% productivity level. The cost is therefore 50% of full salary during that time period.
3. During weeks 13 - 20, the employee is contributing at a 75% productivity level. The cost is therefore 25% of full salary during that time period.
4. Calculate the cost of coworkers and supervisory lost productivity due to their time spent on bringing the new employee "up to speed."
5. Calculate the cost of mistakes the new employee makes during this elongated indoctrination period.
6. Calculate the cost of lost department productivity caused by a departing member of management who is no longer available to guide and direct the remaining staff.
7. Calculate the impact cost on the completion or delivery of a critical project where the departing employee is a key participant.
8. Calculate the cost of reduced productivity of a manager or director who loses a key staff member, such as an assistant, who handled a great deal of routine, administrative tasks that the manager will now have to handle.

New Hire Costs:
1. Calculate the cost of bring the new person on board including the cost to put the person on the payroll, establish computer and security passwords and identification cards, business cards, internal and external publicity announcements, telephone hookups, cost of establishing email accounts, costs of establishing credit card accounts, or leasing other equipment such as cell phones, automobiles, pagers.
2. Calculate the cost of a manager's time spent developing trust and building confidence in the new employee's work.

Lost Sales Costs:
1. For sales staff, divide the budgeted revenue per sales territory into weekly amounts and multiply that amount for each week the territory is vacant, including training time. Also use the lost productivity calculations above to calculate the lost sales until the sales representative is fully productive. Can also be used for telemarketing and inside sales representatives.
2. For non-sales staff, calculate the revenue per employee by dividing total company revenue by the average number of employees in a given year. Whether an employee contributes directly or indirectly to the generation of revenue, their purpose is to provide some defined set of responsibilities that are necessary to the generation of revenue. Calculate the lost revenue by multiplying the number of weeks the position is vacant by the average weekly revenue per employee.